David Hewlett: My dream project, my favorite sci-fi villain and more

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If David Hewlett cracked you up as Dr. Rodney McKay on Stargate: Atlantis, wait'll you meet the REAL David Hewlett! We're thrilled that he's agreed to join us regularly here at Blastr to answer your questions and share whatever happens to be on his mind.

Look who's back—Hewlett's back! BlahBlah, Blastr blogging and still insisting on talking about himself in the third person in a feeble attempt to make himself sound more interesting and important.

Just home from Vancouver, the JapaDog-heavy Hewlett has just completed the narration on a new show for SyFy in which he's been trying to sound more like a demented fast-talking version of Vincent Price than Rodney McKay.

In other news, Caesar: Rise of the Apes, which, due to lengthy non-disclosure agreements, Hewlett isn't allowed to tell you he has a role in, will now be released in August. Unfortunately this jeopardizes the hirsute Hewlett's bold plan to stop shaving—in the hopes of sneaking naked into the premiere as one of the apes. In other primate news there's no word on what's happening to Hewlett's evil Bulgarian snow monkey SyFy monsterpiece, other than it's apparently in post-production without him!

And for those longing for the return of Rodney McKay, (get in line behind Hewlett!), David Hewlett can be seen reprising the role of the snarkiest astrophysicist in the universe in the SGU episode titled "Seizure," airing on SyFy April 4th.

Hewlett will now take your questions.

Would you return to Stargate if they made a movie?

I always thought that Stargate McKay had a very nice ring to it, don't you agree? I adored my years playing Rodney McKay and I would jump at any chance to reprise the role! Especially since it would provide me with another opportunity to regale Joe Flanigan with lengthy and detailed accounts of the wide variety of foods I'd consumed from the lunch menu.

What is the geekiest thing you have ever done? Were there consequences?

I was living in my friend's basement in Hollywood and doing a lot of internet programming and website stuff ... generally being a terribly anti-social unpleasant little nerd. I had promised to have dinner with a woman that I'd met a while ago but that I'd put off a number of times because of auditions. I was actually thinking about trying to get out of it again, but she pinned me down to a date and I really didn't think I could bail without being rude.

Anyway, I showed up wearing a pair of stained old cargo pants and a hideously rumpled shirt. While I was struggling to figure out how to buzz her apartment I was distracted by a fabulous looking blonde hanging out on the upper balcony. To my horror, I realized that she was actually my date for the evening! As a result, I missed the door buzzer an embarrassing number of times and catching a glimpse of the homeless man staring back as my reflection, was mortified to realize what a mess I looked. I then insisted on driving her to the restaurant in the cheapest car on the market, taking about 10 minutes to parallel park on what was basically an empty street.

At dinner I knocked over the sake and hit her in the face with an airborne edamame. It was eventually agreed that we should have a "do-over." That's how I met Jane, who's now the mother of my son Baz, the centre of my universe and who I've been married to for what has to be at least 1,000 years now!

If you could write/produce/etc. any project, what would you choose?

Choosing! Therein lies my problem!

Right now I'm focusing on a little show I like to call Starcrossed! It's basically a 30 Rock meets Galaxy Quest-style comedy about the behind-the-scenes craziness of shooting a science fiction TV show ... where you can expect to see all sorts of familiar faces making fools of themselves and generally having a wickedly fun time! And which I'm writing, will direct and also appear in. Why choose?

Who is your favorite villain of all time?

That is a tough one! On Stargate, I'd have to go with Todd the Wraith ... what's not to love there?! Outside of Stargate (for those who believe that empty kind of world exists!) there were the classic villians like Darth Vader, "The Master" on Doctor Who and Tron's Master Control Program, but my all-time favorite would have to be Roy Batty (played by Rutger Hauer) in Blade Runner. How can you not love his final words:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

He was such a noble enemy and he looked so damn cool with his '80s bleached hair and his leather trench. It was a movie and a villain that made me love the rain ... and hair coloring!

Apart from disappointment, you mean? ;-) My sisters and I weren't that rough with each other physically, and since I was the scrawniest, wimpiest little creep of a kid it was probably a good thing, for my sake! We did tear each other to pieces emotionally, though ... and naturally continue to!

The short answer: I have no sisters.

What is your best approach to writing?

I think writing is a very personal thing, but the best approach for me would probably be to have someone really talented write it for me instead!

First, I should preface this by confessing that I don't think of myself as a writer. If I was Leo DiCaprio or someone similarly gifted and successful I wouldn't be writing. I'd be too busy acting in all the best scripts in town to try and write them! I have written, and I do write, but the truth is I don't love it. I can't stand the process! I'm much better talking ideas through than actually writing then down. I find it easier to do just about anything except write. Low-level assembly language programming is easier for me ... and I don't even know how to do that! I will clean toilets instead of just sitting down to actually write anything! (Wife's note here—he doesn't actually mean this literally :( )

The only reason I write is that I feel I have to. Being the creator of a project puts me in a much better position to do the things I want to do. That and it's ridiculously difficult to find good scripts that people want me to act in, let alone direct! I mean, it does happen, but on the whole, the great projects tend to get snapped up by bigger stars than I (hard to believe, I know, but they do exist!).

I always thought that writing was all about sitting down and letting inspiration take you. I was wrong! The only possible way I can get a writing project done is to have a firm, immovable deadline. I have to force myself to write something, however insignificant, every day. I've also grown to realize that nothing I write is so good that it can't be thrown out. I write as much as I can, as fast as I can, and then I throw out as much as I can and start all over again. Honestly, if you can write every day then you're more than half the way there. It's really just about sitting down and doing the work. I should mention here that I fail more than I succeed in all of this.

Thanks for the great response to my first Hilariously Unhappy Blastr blog and for all of your kind (and unkind) comments here on Blastr. I tried to respond to a few here and there, and will endeavor to do the same with this post as well! I'm also lurking about on http://www.dgeek.com Please join us, post your thoughts and hang with my nerds. Finally if you've got the stomach for it, follow me @dhewlett on Twitter before I'm forced to buy followers by the thousands off the Internet.